Personae: Theatrical Self-portraits by Alan Dismuke
Beatnik Studios is presenting a special Final Friday reception on Friday October 26th featuring photographs by Beatnik Gallery Director, Alan Dismuke. The artists reception will be followed by an all ages concert at 9:00 pm featuring Honyock, Awkward Lemon and Adrian Bellue.
The photographs in this exhibition are staged auto-portraits that explore the duality of the human psyche and the concept of anima and animus - the inner balance of yin and yang. The series, begun in 1990, offers up a panorama of cultural caricatures portrayed as individuals, as couples, and as groups.
The characters address issues of body image, gender identity, vanity, sexuality, and the considerable influence of advertising in our lives. We are presented daily with a barrage of deception that imposes an ideal notion of beauty, security, or well being that is fully fabricated. Perhaps it is deception that lies at the very heart of “image making” in contemporary culture and commerce.
Consider it a masquerade ball, a series of tableaux vivants to corrupt the binary code of gender in the spirit of Rrose Selavy.
